70,000 pupils take part in KHDA’s Dubai Student Wellbeing Census

Some 70,000 private school students in Grades 6 to 9 are expected to take part in the Dubai Student Wellbeing Census.

The initiative by the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) was piloted in May and is now being implemented across 160 schools in the city.

Said to be the first of its kind in the GCC, it aims to measure the happiness of students and address their non-academic concerns.

ARN News spoke to KHDA’s Director General, Dr. Abdulla Al Karam, who explained how the survey results will be used.

Patterned after an initiative in South Australia, the survey consisted of questions about whether the students feel they belong in their school; whether kids in their school respect each other’s differences; what they know about different types of bullying; and how they feel about their appearance.

We asked Dean and Alia, students of Swiss International Scientific School Dubai, about their thoughts on the questionnaire.

The KHDA and school officials clarified that the results of the survey will not be linked in any way to school inspections or ratings. Therefore, the students’ answers will not affect the schools’ reputation and ranking.

Beat Sommer, head of SISD, told ARN News that there is absolutely no pressure on students when it comes to their answers, and whether they choose to take the survey.

Dr. Al Karam said the results of the survey will be analysed in January and will likely be released in February, at the World Government Summit.

At present, about 10,000 students have already filled it out, and the rest are expected to do so by early December.